The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament (sometimes known simply as the SEC Tournament) is the conference tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It is a single-elimination tournament that involves all league schools (currently 14). Its seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, however the official conference championship is awarded to the team or teams with the best regular season record.[1]

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With the abandonment of divisions in SEC men's basketball starting in 2011–12, the top four teams in the conference standings received first-round byes.[2] Bracketing was identical to that of the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament—note that SEC women's basketball has long been organized in a single league table without divisions.

Since the SEC expanded to 14 teams with the arrival of Missouri and Texas A&M in 2012, the 2013 tournament was the first with a new format. Both men's and women's tournaments have the four bottom seeds (#11 throughout #14) playing opening-round games, with the top four seeds receiving a "double-bye" into the quarterfinals.

Before 2012, the top two teams in both the Eastern and Western Divisions received byes in the first round, while #3 in the East played #6 from the West, #4 played #5, etc. The brackets were set up so that #2 would play the winner of the game involving #3 from the other division, and #1 would play the winner of the game involving #4 from the other division. Barring an upset, the semi-finals would pit #1 from one division against #2 from the other division, and the championship game would feature the regular season winners of the two divisions, although this rarely happened in practice.

From 1933-50, the SEC Champion was determined by a tournament, except for 1935. Beginning in 1951, a round-robin schedule was introduced and the SEC title was awarded to the team with the highest in-conference winning percentage. From 1951-64, the round-robin consisted of 14 games. In 1965 and 1966, it was expanded to 16 games. From 1967-91, the round-robin schedule was 18 games. In 1992, the SEC split into an Eastern and Western Division but continued to recognize an SEC Champion based on a winning percentage over the new 16-game conference schedule. The league also began awarding division championships. In 1979, the tournament was renewed with the winner receiving the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament,[3] but the official league champion remained the team(s) with the best regular season record.

In 2000, the Arkansas Razorbacks became the first team since the league expansion in 1992 to win the conference tournament by playing all four days, beating Georgia, Kentucky, LSU and Auburn to receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Basketball Championships. Since then, the feat has been accomplished twice, first in 2008 by Georgia. In 2009, Mississippi State repeated that feat, defeating Georgia, South Carolina, LSU and Tennessee to receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Basketball Championships.

The first seven games of the 2008 Men's Tournament were played at the Georgia Dome. During overtime of Game 7 between Mississippi State and Alabama, a tornado struck the downtown Atlanta area, damaging the Georgia Dome and several buildings surrounding it, including CNN Center. MSU and Alabama returned after a 64-minute delay to finish their game, but the last quarterfinal game of the day, between Georgia and Kentucky, was postponed until the next day, and the remaining four games of the tournament were moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech. Only credentialed individuals were allowed to attend, including players' families, bands, cheerleaders, and media. No other spectators were allowed in the building.

(a): The Georgia Dome hosted the 2008 SEC Tournament, but became uninhabitable after a tornado in downtown Atlanta. The semifinals and finals were played at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now Hank McCamish Pavilion).(b): Bridgestone Arena was previously known as the Gaylord Entertainment Center. It was also previously known as Sommet Center and Nashville Arena, but never hosted an SEC Tournament under either name.(c): The Mercedes-Benz Superdome was previously known as the Louisiana Superdome(d): Amalie Arena was known as the St. Pete Times Forum when it hosted the 2009 tournament. It was originally known as the Ice Palace, and was later known as Tampa Bay Times Forum, but never hosted an SEC Tournament under either name.(e): The New Orleans Arena is now known as Smoothie King Center.(f): The Scottrade Center has yet to host a tournament, but has been announced as the 2018 host.

^"Through the Years: SEC Champions" (PDF). 2012–13 SEC Men's Basketball Media Guide. Southeastern Conference. p. 67. Retrieved May 16, 2013. Since 1951, when the round-robin schedule was introduced, the title has been decided by a winning percentage on the conference schedule.

^Because of a tornado that struck the Atlanta area, the Georgia Dome was declared unsafe to finish the tournament midway through Friday's session. The fourth quarterfinal, semifinals, and final were moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum with only a few hundred spectators permitted at each game. See main article "2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament." "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_SEC_Men%27s_Basketball_Tournament#2008_SEC_Tournament"

^Kentucky defeated Georgia in the 1988 SEC Tournament final, but the tournament title was vacated later because of NCAA violations.